History
The Ropes Creek Line was named after a nearby creek bearing the same name. Its main purpose was to transport military ammunition's and munitions factory workers to and from St Marys during World War II. The line opened from St Marys station to Dunheved on 1 March 1942 and Dunheved to Ropes Creek on 29 June 1942. When electrification arrived in the 1950s, a plan was made to include electrifying the Ropes Creek Line. For the most part all the siding in the Dunheved station area were electrified to enable the NSWGR to use the then electric locomotives of the 46 class to shunt (switch) trains without the need of changing to diesel electric or diesel hydraulic power.
While the line was being electrified, a new station was built and opened on 2 September 1957 and named Cochrane. Towards the end of train operation on the line, there were freight wagons shunted into the Sims Metal plant which is about 2 kilometres from the junction with the Main West line and one passenger train in the morning and one in the afternoon was the norm. This train was mostly formed by a 4 car single deck suburban train locally known as a Red Rattler.
The line was closed to passenger rail traffic with a down turn of passengers and munitions traffic in the early 1980s but remained open to freight traffic for Sims Metal. However, when this was then switched to road traffic the line closed. The line then lay idle for a number of years. On 22 March 1986, the line was officially closed forever, with an enthusiasts' special being the last train to traverse the section and not long after that, the overhead power supply was removed. Between Boxing Day 1990 & 8 January 1991 a major trackwork shutdown that was between St Marys and Glenbrook, the line was temporarily reopened as far as Dunheved to allow suburban trains that normally stabled at Penrith to be stabled in the 4 track yard and on platform 2 or the Down Branch track. At the completion of the trackwork, the line was once again closed. Overhead wiring was still installed at the St Marys end of the branch where it turned off the main western line for approximately 10 cars to provide a terminating point for trains used on "Y" Link services. With the abolition of "Y" link services to St Marys in 2005, there was no reason for the overhead wiring and associated components to be left in place and they were subsequently removed.
At Dunheved railway station, a fenced in compound was constructed on the down branch and down No. 1 siding, and 2 suburban train carriages were stored there for use by the NSW Fire Brigade for training purposes - Comeng motor car C3866 and Goninan Tangara car N5127. Pictures here These cars and the compound didn't last long because local vandals destroyed both carriages.
Rails on the branch were still there in 1996 but by 2001 the rails were starting to be lifted, the first part of the line to be lifted was the area outside Sims Metal for the extension of Christie St between Dunheved Rd & across South Creek, outside Sims Metal. The next part, Links Rd level crossing, wasn't lifted but was covered with tar and concrete.
Read more about this topic: Ropes Creek Railway Line
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